At press time, bitcoin is trading for approximately $ 9,130 following a long week of volatility exploits and price drops. The cryptocurrency has been experiencing massive swings between the $ 8,900 and $ 9,500 range, and it’s unclear if or when bitcoin will decide to settle before another respective run.

Just over a week ago, bitcoin was trading for approximately $ 11,200, though drops have likely occurred thanks to ongoing regulatory tactics. Currently, China’s IT Ministry is set to implement “official” blockchain standards. While the country has shown it’s not for a solid ban on cryptocurrencies altogether, it has taken stances against unregulated or energy-consuming activity. To limit mining, for example, China has reduced the amount of electricity originally made available to miners. It has also blocked cryptocurrency exchanges on social media, and even censored them on applications like WeChat. Read more...

Once you’ve spent any time in the world of buying and selling crypto, you quickly realize the main obstacle to mass adoption – the fact that it’s difficult, complicated and risky to buy, sell and use your new assets.

Not insurmountable of course, to someone with a degree of tech savvy-ness. But it’s a huge barrier to getting widespread popular support. And for cryptocurrencies to become broadly accepted as a medium of exchange, it’s essential to overcome those obstacles. Read more...

Some businesses in India believe that they have found a loophole in the finance minister’s speech that sought to clamp down on the use of cryptocurrencies. While this loophole may allow startups to accept bitcoin without breaking the law, experts question its viability.

The Loophole

Indian finance minister Arun Jaitley.

As the Indian government is working on the regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies, startups in the country are finding a way to accept bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies without breaking the law. Read more...

**On today’s episode of The Cryptoverse:**
Breaking Finally the mystery silence surrounding KeepKey has been lifted. ShapeShift has just bought the KeepKey company in an all cash deal. So let’s take a look at what this means.